REVEALED: New Evidence Which Could Prove Billie-Jo Wasn't Murdered by Her Foster Father; the Brutal Murder of This 13-Year-Old Appalled the Nation. but Even More Shocking Was the Identity of the Killer - Her Foster Father, a Deputy Headmaster, Who Was Sentenced to Life Imprisonment. Here We Reveal the Dramatic New Findings That Could Eventually Set Him Free

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The brutal murder of this 13-year-old appalled the nation. But even more shocking was the identity of the killer - her foster father, a deputy headmaster, who was sentenced to life imprisonment. Here we reveal the dramatic new findings that could eventually set him free ...

The brutal murder of this 13-year-old appalled the nation. But even more shocking was the identity of the killer - her foster father, a deputy headmaster, who was sentenced to life imprisonment. Here we reveal the dramatic new findings that could eventually set him free ...

Billie-Jo wasn't murdered Billie-Jo wasn't murdered ON SUNDAY, July 5, last year, the Reverend Stuart Bell, of St Michael's, Aberystwyth, delivered an unusual sermon.'During the past month, I have been at Lewes Crown Court at the trial of Sion Jenkins,' he said from the pulpit.

'Over the past 14 months, Sion has been a member of this congregation, a faithful Christian. On Thursday, he was found guilty of murdering his foster daughter, Billie-Jo.

'Something you may not know,' he added to startled parishioners, 'is that Sion is innocent of the crime.' At the time, there was no more vilified figure in the country than Sion Jenkins. On that day, almost all the Sunday newspapers portrayed the deputy head teacher not as 'a faithful Christian' but as the most evil of men.

Yet here was a vicar in Wales - where Sion had been allowed to live on bail with his parents - telling his congregation not just that he thought the conviction was a mistake, but that he knew it was.

'Those were a difficult few days,' recalled his wife Prudence Bell, who is herself a magistrate. 'We were really out on a limb. Some people didn't know how to react to us; a few were shocked.' I had also straight away reached the same conclusion. Having been concerned for some years with miscarriages of justice, I am always wary of proclaiming someone's innocence prematurely.

In this case, I had no hesitation. The verdict reeked of injustice. The forensic evidence seemed unreliable; and Jenkins was an implausible suspect with no motive or realistic opportunity to commit the crime. In the week after the trial, I wrote an article for the Daily Mail explaining why I believed Jenkins was innocent.

One year on, there has been significantly more research into the case.

Every day, the case not only for Jenkins's innocence, but also for the guilt of an alternative suspect, becomes stronger.

SION and Lois Jenkins married in December 1982 when Sion was teaching at Stepney Green boys' school in East London. They had four daughters - Annie, Lottie, Esther and Maya.

Sion moved to a different school, and Lois began working in social services. They took Billie-Jo, a schoolfriend of Annie's, into foster care in June 1992. Two months later, the family moved to Lower Park Road, Hastings, Sion having been appointed deputy head of William Parker boys' school.

Billie-Jo left her natural family in London to go with them. In February 1997, Sion and Lois obtained a residence order for her, thus becoming her legal guardians.

Saturday, February 15, at the end of half-term week, was one of the first bright days of the year.

Lois took the two younger children walking on the beach, Sion took Annie in his MG convertible to pick up Lottie from her clarinet class, leaving Billie-Jo, 13, at home painting the patio doors. On Sion's return, he took Annie and Lottie out again straight away to buy white spirit from Do-It-All.

When they got back, they found Billie-Jo lying in a pool of blood on the patio, having been bludgeoned to death with an 18in metal tent spike.

The doctor called to the scene said that, in 26 years as a police surgeon, it was the most brutal murder he had ever attended. …